45 voodoo priests lynched in Haiti for cholera deaths

Port Au Prince (Haiti), Dec 24 (IANS) At least 45 people – most of them voodoo priests – have been lynched by angry mobs blaming them for the spread of the cholera epidemic in Haiti which has claimed over 2,500 lives, CNN reported Friday.

Some of the victims were killed with machetes, others were burned alive by mobs that added tyres and gasoline to stoke the fires.

Forty of the victims were found in Haiti’s southwestern area of Grand Anse, said Moise Fritz Evens, a communications ministry official.

The cholera outbreak that started in Haiti in October has taken the lives of 2,591 people, according to official figures.

Communications Minister Marie-Laurence Lassegue said the victims were targeted because of ‘misinformation’ that was circulating that voodoo practitioners were spreading cholera by using witchcraft.

Meanwhile, Max Beauvoir, head of a voodoo organisation, said: ‘People who practice voodoo have nothing to do with the cholera epidemic.’